By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
TOPEKA, Jan. 18
Since July 1, more than 18,000 Kansas children have been denied access to the state”s health insurance programs because the parents didn”t have
or couldn”t find
the child”s birth certificate.
State health officials have said the denials are sure to cause more uninsured families to rely on emergency rooms and, in turn, increase health-care costs.
But a pair of policy analysts with the National Conference of State Legislatures said Wednesday that the new identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements are but a harbinger of things to come.
“This is soon going to affect every Kansan,” said Sheri Steisel, a federal affairs counsel at the NCSL office in Washington, D.C.
Steisel said that in 2008, anyone renewing or applying for a driver”s license likely will be required to produce a birth certificate, a Social Security card and a photo-form of identification.
“The feds have basically taken over the driver”s license process,” Steisel said.
“This is a way to achieve uniformity without going to a national identification card,” she said. “It”s also a way to shift the costs onto the states.”
The requirements, she said, will apply to everyone
not just immigrants.
“People who”ve lived in Kansas for generations are going to have to show all kinds of documentation to prove their citizenship,” Steisel said, warning that copies of documents probably won”t be accepted.
Instead of supplying a Social Security number, for example, applicants will have to produce their actual Social Security cards.
Steisel said the requirements are likely to lead to day-long waits at driver”s license offices.
Currently, two of a wide variety of documents including diplomas, are acceptable for procuring a license.
Heavy hammer
States will not have to comply with the new requirements, Steisel said. But someone with a driver”s license from a non-compliant state would not be allowed to board an airplane or enter a federal building.
“That”s a pretty heavy hammer to hang over states,” she said.
Steisel and Molly Ramsdell, a NCSL specialist on homeland security issues, addressed the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee on Wednesday.
Ramsdell said the new requirements are driven by post-9/11 concerns that all but one of the 19 hijackers had some form of U.S. identification.
Federal regulations defining which forms of identification will be accepted are due May 11, Ramsell said. They”re expected to take effect a year later.
Relief sought
Kansas Health Policy Authority officials will be in Washington, D.C. next month for the National Health Policy Forum. While there, they will lobby the state”s Congressional delegation in hopes of lowering some of the proof-of-citizenship barriers to Medicaid and HealthWave eligibility.
HealthWave is Kansas” health insurance program for children in working, low-income families.
Steisel was reluctant to predict whether the federal government would be willing to alter the requirements.
“It”s a new Congress. Who knows?” she said. “It”s much too early to tell.”
Still, Steisel said, there”s not much cause for optimism. “This is very clearly a White House priority, and it”s something that both sides of Congress have said they”d like to achieve,” she said.
No surprise
Though the identification requirements are aimed at keeping illegal immigrants off the nation”s welfare rolls, Kansas Health Policy Authority surveys have found that
parents of most
of the children turned away in recent months are long-time Kansas residents.
That”s not surprising, said Penny Schwab, Penny Schwab, executive director of United Methodist Mexican-American Ministries clinic in Garden City.
“Anyone who”s ever worked in the immigrant community could have predicted that,” Schwab said. “It”s very rare for someone who”s not a citizen to apply for benefits. They don”t want to do anything that would jeopardize their chances for becoming a citizen.”
Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.